How Do you get your handspun to look so even in colour? it is beautiful!

I. Love. That. Sock.
(I may be a little sock obsessed right now...)

Hats have been sent! Yippee!!

I am disappointed that my Amazon preorder has been delayed. But, it will only increase my longing and anticipation.

Have a great time in NYC all you crazy knitters out there!! I shall stage some kind of representing in public (assuming it isn't raining).

Seriously . . . I didn't mean to freak you out or anything . . . but I am thrilled the books will be arriving earlier than MAY! Have fun in NY. Tell Joe that right now it is very hip to have printing on your bum area! Love the sock.

We all get a little emotional when it comes to our knitting (and a little fickle.........) So what are you taking to knit on the plane? Wish I could be in NYC, but I'll be at the Victoria event, no matter what! You'll rock them at FIT, no matter which pants you wear. All any of us really wants is to see YOU.

Best wishes for the FIT festivities! Wish I could be there, but I live at the wrong end of the state! Glad to hear Amazon is wrong - I hesitated to accept the delayed shipping until I got the 'real' story! Can't wait to hear about all of the escapades in NYC. Knit on!

Gorgeous knitting as always. Thank you for the inspiration and the belly laugh at the arse initials!

Have fun in NY! I'm so bummed out by the fact that I live in Denmark - but be warned, some day I will save up enough money to go to the US! :P Based on my current income... Only a few years to go! Haha..

Bad luck on the sweater; I totally understand why you ditched it for socks!

Stephanie
Best wishes for the big book sendoff in NYC! Looking forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh next week. Love those socks.....
Diane

Your sock is beautiful! Wish I had your speed and cleverness for knitting patterns in socks! At least it no longer looks like a cozy for a...hmmm...you know. ;) Can't wait to get my copy of the book. Have a great time freakin out the muggles!

WOOOHOOO! Thursday's almost here!

I wish I could join the muggle-freak-out. Sigh.

As far as the gansey goes, I think I'd be ok with letters over my arse (but not on it). What does that say about me?

Is the sun shining in Toronto? Can you take pictures of the Bohus?

Those are seriously gorgeous socks. I understand your (temporary) desire to put the Gansey away, but I hope we see it completed before long.

Hope that New York works out perfectly. May you freak muggles.

Stephanie, that is an amazingly cool sock. So is the new sweater. Take that, you darn gansey! See what happens when you tick off the Knitter?! Have fun in NY.

Trine Imagine how bummed I am that I am only about 90 miles away and not going - but I think after my doctor visit today he would shoot me if I even considered going. Not to mention none of you want me to be coughing on you. But I know someone who is going and I am demanding lots and lots of pictures to see from her.

That's what multiple projects are for, so you can run away from knitting that is too emotional. Or perhaps it's to give you a safe place to run to.

When I look at your book on Amazon, I see the little box below the picture where it says "Are you the publisher or author....." How absolutely cool it must be to be able to say "Why yes, yes I am the author!"

I'm flying to NYC tomorrow too, yay! I hope you decide to wear the Bohus, I'll be very disappointed otherwise ;-)

Best wishes, Stephanie! Have a great time in NYC! Please show off your Bohus at FIT; your pants will look fine but that sweater will certainly take all attention away from them!

I can't wait to read about REPRESENT on your blog while I plod away at my finals!

Good travels to you!
Love the sock... it rocks.
Can't wait for your book!

What's that thing they say in theater "it's not a mistake, it's a design element" or as we say "if you can't hide it, highlight it". Tell Joe if he was lost at sea he'd be floating face down anyway...

I'm off to mail things. woot!

All fine and good - but have you found any PANTS?

Don't forget to pack a big empty duffle bag for all your new yarn purchases...oops, I mean business expenses.

Have a great time in New York...you picked a great date for your party (the 22nd is my birthday). I'll see you in St.Paul. What sort of beer would you prefer as you sit at the Yarnery? or a yummy dessert and latte from the cafe next door? chocolate or cheesecake? Seriously, my treat...just let me know your preferences so you'll enjoy it rather than be surprised.

Sometimes I get mad and start ripping out something I've ruined by not knowing how to count properly, etc. Then I realize that I've ripped it out, and I get angry at it for letting me even contemplate ripping it out that far. Then I switch to something else, while I get over how I've been betrayed by my yarn. There's generally a beer involved, too.

Great new sweater!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes projects need a short "lie down"....
as to the wardrobe problems in the previous post-wear jeans !!!!! We Do!!!!!!!!! In fact, in your honor those of us coming to Ann Arbor on April 1, will wear jeans. I will pass the word.
While your beautiful gansy is giving you the hard way to go-I did feel better for a moment to know that the great Yarn Harlot is (like the rest of us) subject to pattern dyslexia.

You got stripes, mine is pooling. Have a wonderful time in NYC wish that I could be there.

If you had gone to that much effort for me I would be quite content to wear my initials on my arse.

Mind you, my initals would, unfortunately, be quite insignificant against it size-wise.

What a shame about the gansey, but I know you'll work through it. The RSC sock...rocks. I'm waiting to knit mine until after I finish sweaters for two nieces. I wish I could be in NYC to freak out the muggles. It sounds like loads of fun! Good luck with it all!

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Don't rip the whole gansey out!

Just cut one stitch above it and unravel that section...reknit it on dp's and weave it back together. EZ does it in one of her books to fix a mistaken cable crossing. No Problem.

Ohhh I am getting a rash just thinking about ripping out all that beautiful knitting...even just to the armholes.

Never again will I miss the BMFA boat--that sock is bloody sexy!!

Totally stoked about the NYC event. Unfortunately as an upstater with limited vacation, I will miss the morning and noon events. But I. Will. Be. There. Squeeeeee!!!

Wear black pants and the beautiful Bohus!

Have a fabulous time, Steph and all the other knitters! I'd be there if I could. Manhattan is my home town (Women's Hosp. Morningside Heights). I'll be there in spirit. Scare the store-bought socks off the muggles! And, Steph? Don't wear that sign on the back of the Bohus saying "you can't have it." This is a big city we're talking about. Don't tempt fate, or muggers.

Now, everybody into the ... er, subway! Have fun, all!

What a fabulous sock pattern! Could you tell us the name of the pattern and where we might find it? Good luck next week in NYC.

Ai! What is that sock pattern! And I see that heide just ahead of me asked the same thing. I am unoriginal and obsessed with socks and rather hungry right now and therefore, completely above reproach for being duplicative.

Great sock! Very nice gansey, too: shame about the misplaced initials, but I have faith you'll figure out the best thing for it.

Any news on an Ontario launch? Or for us home-bound knitters who can't make it to NYC but still wish to Represent?

Can you tell us the name of that sock pattern? It's not shown on the Blue Moon website. It's GORGEOUS!

The sock is great. Will you ever make a trip to the sunny south??? My main complaint is life is so much yarn so little time.

LOL re emotion in knitting; but isn't that one of the main points as to why we succeed at a project or not?

Despite all, Joe's gansey is looking beautiful. I *love* that mohair boucle, I'm lusting after it! And the sock turned out very nicely, no phallic resemblance at all. While being worn, anyway. ;)

Rock out the next two days - break a leg! And may your sales skyrocket. Hope everyone has a blast in NY. Set the bar high for us at the rest of Steph's appearances, people!

The sock looks great!

You have got to be kidding about the initials necessitating frogging etc.? Now really, they are just fine, perhaps classier, on the back! You might tell DH that they are less noticeable there than on the front so you did it especially for him. Remember to have fun on your trip.

Hopefully your projects aren't developing abandonment issues. But what else is there to do when they don't cooperate? Have fun in New York!

Wait, stop!

On the back, could you not just cut one row above the initials, rip back just the initials and re-knit them up, then graft in a short bit to replace the row you cut?

Please don't pull out that gorgeous work!

Abandon your nervousness. It is totally unfounded. New Yorkers are very friendly. Just like other knitters, N.Y. knitters are obsessive and will be completely supportive and excited that you are actually coming! Before retiring to N.J., I was a New Yorker. I will be in Central Park at noon with my current sock. I have pre-ordered the new book from Amazon. Stay calm, New York (& some N.J.) knitters love you! See you there, then, Ruth in N.J.

The sock looks fab, I have just frogged back the leg as it would not fit over my (fat) ankles, and I was contemplating not putting in the cables this time but having seen yours I will perservere with a larger needle. Thanks also for your post last year about the STR credit card scandal as that was where I first heard about the club. Good luck in NY, one day I will make it over from NZ!

The biggest laugh was in the naming of the photos, they really cracked me up. I could really go for a sweater called Bobblething.

Gansey to sweater to socks.....You are trying to live up to your "harloty" reputation. :-)

She's not going to rip the whole thing out, just the part down to where the neckline begins, and that may not be entirely necessary.

Stephanie, couldn't you just assume that you knitted a really fancy full-width neck steek?

Knit up the real back (the one without initials), pin it all together like a boatneck, try it on Joe and mark with cotton thread where the neckline needs to be. Then steek it and knit the collar.

You could even save the bit you cut out and make a back to go with it, sew them together and you have a small bag that matches the gansey top.

About the gansey...a simple little "knitting surgery" ought to fix it. I would make one little snip in the yarn, unravel however many sts wide the initials are, use a crochet hook to fix the sts one column at a time, then use a 12" strand of spare yarn, felt it to one end of the sweater yarn that you snipped, kitchener across the "wound," and then bury the two remaining ends. The same method could be used on the other side to add the initials in...if you so desired.

Just an idea that popped into my head...

Happy traveling!

Would he have noticed if you hadn't told him? And would he have believed you if you'd said that was how it was supposed to be - with the writing positioned over the back jeans pocket where the logo normally is? You could have said that the initials are an early form of personalized logo!

Obviously garnishing the truth (okay, lying) to one's dreamboat is wrong. Very wrong. But I'm willing to get a little scorched in the afterlife to avoid frogging things in this one!

Wow, my STR yarn has no white in it at all!

(Yeah, some day I'll post a picture on my blog. If I can find my blog. It's buried here somewhere. . . . .)

Poor gansey. It's just determined to try the patience of the Yarnharlot. Just, think of how beautiful it will be when finished. And everyone -- knock those New York corporate types off their pre-conceived notions bout us knitters!

Dude, I love the socks, I've seen several pair already knit, inside-out socks, they're so cool.
Have a great time in NYC, those muggles aren't going to know what hit them..well not for long anyway. Make.good.time. (I know you and everyone will)

Man, I wish I could come! I'll be visiting friends in South Carolina that day. I'll do my best to freak out the people in the airport though. Seriously, why does someone knitting in an airport always elicit comments to the tune of, "I can't believe they let her bring those on the plane!"

Evil gansey! It's all upity because it knows you have to get its neck "just right".

*Gorgeous* gansey! Please don't rip it out, just follow the directions of at least three other knitters who've mentioned cutting (gasp), frogging, and reknitting. Unless there's more to the story…

I love that sock pattern. Must. Have. Sock. Pattern. Please.

My vote is to snip just above the initials, remove the few inches of that row, drop down and smooth out the spot, reknit the removed bit, then darn the snipped hole by bridging it with another snippet woven in. Ditto with adding initials to the front. Easy.

Have fun in NYC. Wow them with your wit!

i'm so sad. i'm stuck in atlanta being a lawyer while y'all are in new york yarn-crawling. my only comfort is my plan to take my current sock-in-progress into court and knit on it Thursday morning -- my small personal effort at assuring knitters have a presence on Thursday. i hope y'all have a lot of fun. i'm so sorry i'm not going to be there.

Have fun in NYC, I wish I could be there. My friends will be bringing my hat to your visit to Oak Brook IL... unless I somehow manage to make it there myself!

What? Rip back the front to make the back into the back so the arse isn't branded? Please be willing to explain at FIT, and I hope that doesn't mean a big rip, cus even I will cry over that.

And, I have to say Thank the Goddess you won't be signing 750 books at once, cuz I'm pretty sure your hand would fall off, which would be bad for writing and worse for knitting.

See you Thursday!

to Sylvia at 5:14 - "My vote is to snip just above the initials, remove the few inches of that row, drop down and smooth out the spot, reknit the removed bit, then darn the snipped hole by bridging it with another snippet woven in. Ditto with adding initials to the front. Easy."

What???? I can't imagine... but then I'm just a beginner...

sounds like 'cut and paste' ..can we do this??

Steph, please, for the love of all that is woolly, tell me that you do not have anything pressing to get home to once you're finished your New York trip. If you do, I will just tell myself that I have used up all of the Canadian-Knitter-Bad-Travel-Karma and that you'll be okay ... check out blog.myspace.com/venusmurphyband and you'll understand :)

Safe travels
Jenn in Winnipeg

Could you tink down those rows and fix the gansey?

Oh, but please might you tell us what sock pattern that is? I lurve it!

Have a great and safe trip. Your STR sock left me breathless. :-)

ok, that sock is beautiful. But isn't that THE SOCK??? It looks so different on your foot than it does off. I am curious, does it still have "the look" to it? ....or did that disappear as you finished it? just sign me "curious in Grand Rapids".

LOVELY sock. I adore it. I think we all have a similar response to that paticular knitting distress of ripping back. I was on track to finish a shawl in 6 weeks, only to find that I had to rip out a week's worth of knitting. That shawl ended up taking almost 6 months to complete, because I got so irritated with it. Of course here I am calling it done, and the poor thing still needs to be blocked.

I think I finally twigged to why it always comes down to pants. They're really the only [visible] article of clothing that you're really not going to knit, which leaves you at the mercy of others....

I'm so glad you're feeling better. My hat is on its way to meet you!

ha hah ha Poor Joe , he won't know if hes coming or going with the gansey on. That's ok though as most days I don't know if I'm coming or going and I don't have a gansey, and by the end of this trip you are going on you will join the club too haha As far as jumping from one knitting project to another one ( I've been doing the same thing ) I think its the weather that's doing it. I blame the weather on EVERYTHING

So you are going to debut the Bohus at the event right? With that on top who cares if you're wearing jeans.

If Joe is lost at sea, will it matter where his initials are? Sigh... no, but it will matter to him every time he wears the gansey, and, after all and thank heaven, we expect that to be infinitely more times than he is lost at sea.

Just show up however you are and talk like you do. You'll rock the house.

My husband is now singing in TWO groups, one of which is having an EXTRA rehearsal tonight (why??? the concert's not until May), so I get kid duty 3 nights in a row, but after that, as he says, he is free for the rest of the week. This means 1) I am extremely annoyed with all this singing 2) see you in Northampton.

Hey, can we get some of you knitting bloggers to blog the event as it is happening for those of us who are cash-challenged, distance-challenged and childcare-challenged? And can you link to the Represent page?

Oh, we ask the world. But we love you so much, Ms. Harlot!

Wishing you a glorious launch!

Have a fantastic time in NY - I can't quite make it from the other side of the pond to help freak out your muggles but the muggles on the train in the UK consider themselves duly alarmed/surprised on a daily basis by the constant sock knitting - I will be representing tomorrow (but perhaps not to quite so many people!!)

Is it just me, or does the colorway overpower the coolness of those sock cuffs? I do like the colorway, and hope they make it available to the general public, but I'd put a different pattern to it and knit this pattern with a plainer yarn.

Also, it seems that you're leaving Ontario right when the holy-cow-actual-spring-weather arrives. It'll probably be all icy by the time you get back.

Cool it's going to be a Knitters World Cup-like event. I wish I could go. *snif snif*

OK, I MUST know what yarn and pattern you are using for that SOCK! Love, love, love, LOVE the garter heel.

MUST. KNOW. NOW!

(still pouting b/c I won't be in NYC)

I'd have put the gansey down too. It's just too much. The sweater looks promising and I have sock envy. (Freud never mentioned that one, did he?)

I'm an hour north of the city and I just can't get the logistics to work for Thursday. It's so frustrating. I will be there in spirit though and I will actually suffer through the "Today" show that morning, while knitting of course, just to vicariously participate.

I know, I'll buy yarn on Thursday!! I don't actually need any yarn but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for the cause.

I put dh's initials in the same spot! He saw them charted out and said, well I don't really want initials on my sweater. But they were already done...so I haven't told him and he hasn't noticed (and it is a very plain sweater!).

I will distract you from getting seriously freaked out at the thought of all the *non* muggles with an anecdote: My small person, a tween, was on her way out the door this morning, hugged me carefully around my bound-up wrist and said "Mum, I'm going to school, and I'm wearing my sweater, my mittens and the hat you just made me so that you can feel happy about your knitting without having to use your hand."
*sniff*
Bon Voyage.

The socks are very pretty. Good luck with the gansey!

my goodness...get on with the gansey, it's beautiful! I LOLed at the initials on his bum!

Love the sock! Wendy over at Wendy Knits made the same one. I am very jealous that the STR club is closed for the year. I wish I was in it as well!

Have fun in NYC!

Tuesdays are for spinning?

(I (now, again) have a wheel in my posession; flu or not, I'm in need of spinning.)

Is that your STR sock? Mine is totally not striping. At least the first one isn't. Let's hope the second one matches...

Have a blast in NYC - I wish I could be there too!

Tell you what....there are those of us in Alabama who are more than willing to knit at work Thursday AND add to our yarn stashes. Haven't started my STR yet, but I'm inspired now....had that same gansey setback a couple years ago with a vest for a dear friend that refused to cable properly....ripped that puppy out THREE times before I got the front right. It was well worth the effort.

Just wondering if the "sweater of doom" fear is subconsciously forcing you to avoid completing the gansey...

Love those wee slubs!!!

And they say swatches lie. It seems sweaters do too.

Awww! Those tiny boucles are breaking my heart!

Can't wait to see you at FIT! How sad am I that you're finished the STR sock...and I haven't even started?

I itch all OVER! I can't read the words "snip" and "gansey" in the same sentence, I have HIVES *sob* Seriously, though, I'm knitting all day Thursday, going to watch the morning show, think about you ALL DAY -- I bet it'll make national news, how's THAT for a "represent"? And I wonder if Amazon's problem is that they weren't ready for 800,dodecagazillion, bazillion copies of your book were going to be pre-ordered!?!?! I find I may have to do some fancy-dancing to get to St. Paul....now where did I put those tap shoes?

Poor Joe! But really, it could happen to anyone. Stopped by to leave a note re: yesterday's post: Dress pants and slacks are a joke that the fashion industry has played on women for far too long. The only way to get ones that actually really fit is to have them custom made. If you don't like skirts, go with jeans. There is a pair of jeans appropriate for any occasion that doesn't actually demand a skirt, in my opinion. Get some fancy ones with embroidery or something on them, and be comfortable.
Very best wishes for the FIT event; I wish so much that I could be there. I can't wait to hear about it.
Also, about the gansey's neckline: I'd err on the side of just a hair too large, and if it really is then you can pull an EZ and run some elastic thread around the inside with a needle when you're done.
Best of luck in NY!!

Argh! Ripping out all that work? Isn't Joe proud of his initials? Jeans put their labels on the butt...
Must get onto my STR club sock. Yours looks great.
Enjoy NYC! I'll just have to pretend a hat was made by me. I have one on my desk but the idea of spending close to $100 to get it couriered there in time... LOL

Yeah....I'll see you in Lyndhurst! I can't belive your coming my way!!! Whooo hooooooo

My Amazon order still says shipping April 4-6.

Joe's sweater is shaping up very nicely. I vote for the snip it/fix it plan, especially if you've spent a bit of effort to get the neck shaped nicely for him.

(temporarily??)Trashing the gansey was a good idea. That thing has caused you pain (and boredom) since its humble beginnings. This is a sign of knitterly maturity, trashing a project that isn't working for you. (Or maybe fickleness, but let's not go there)

Funny that e. asked if someone would blog the event on Thursday, because there is a very real possibility that if I can find a wifi hotspot, I am going to bring my laptop and camera and do a live blog from FIT. Not because (as it may appear) I am getting obsessive about this Represent thing, but because I have to be online at 8pm that night in order to get tickets to a long-awaited event of another sort. It occurs to me that it's possible to take multitasking way too far...

I love your socks...what pattern is that?

Well it's no wonder that his initals were on the other side. You stay so busy that even your knitting doesn't know if it's coming or going.

Does it actually matter? Do you think he'd notice? Seriously... I didn't notice, but it might be because I'm not looking too closely. ^^;;

That cutting idea sounds so sensible.

Also, horrific.

Have fun in NYC...really wish I could help with the freakout. I think we need the same thing in Montréal, but I'm not sure how that would work. Just sure that in the land of the false eyelash and the sparkly stiletto, a sea of knitters would be The. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

Two things. First, I remember reading "somewhere" that traditionally, initials should be located as close to your arse as possible. When gifting handspun, handknit lovelies, it's best not to ask for too much input.

If it bothers you that much, you can start the ribbing, the stockinette with relocated initials separately, frog the sweater to the just above the initials, and then kitchener both together.

As for New York, I'm a native. Best restaurant in the city - Victor's Cafe - midtown. If you have time GO! Plenty of veggie dishes and it's the best Puerto Rican food outside the island.

Have a blast!

Are Joe's initials OCD? Ah, sorry, those must be yours. Asked out of a clear blue sky I'd have assumed initials were meant to go at the back -- one floats face down, right? (sorry) nd like he'd have noticed? I know -- you're enjoying the gansey so much that you want to postpone finishing it as long as possible. Glad that Ken's feeling the same way about the control issues here, anyway. And yes, I'm certain you Ann Arbor appearance is far enough away for me to make such comments safely. I think.

Is there a chance you could let us know where to get that great sock pattern from 3/20/07. Thanks.

*drool* Must ... have ... sock ... pattern. Did I miss the post on where you got the sock pattern?

Yeah--it's probably not a good idea to have initials hanging over your right bum...I mean, then the left one would need a name too...

(The sock is really awesome--is that socks-that-rock?

amazon has told me i will get shipment Apr 2nd...should i believe them?
safe travels
Stephanie!!!

I suppose I am lazier than you would feel comfortable being, but you could just knit a little square and put it over the initials and if the edges showed you could needlefelt them down. That's what I'd do.

I. Love. That. Sock. Too.

I wish I could be in NYC tomorrow. Have a blast.

I. Love. That. Sock. Too.

I wish I could be in NYC tomorrow. Have a blast freakin out the muggles.

Have just been reading the "How to park your car in NY" instructions. OMG! I am definitely never taking a car to NY. As for Parking By Design.com - hilarious!

All the very best from England for the event. Do you think you can make the international news? The BBC must have a correspondent in NYC, surely?

Is it possible to snip one stitch, above the initials, and then "unknit" or let a run happen until just under the initials, and knit it back together?

I've had to do this, and it wasn't fun, but kept me from redoing the whole thing (also something I've had to do, but it wasn't pretty).

Good luck!!
Vicki

That is a really cool sock pattern. Did you make it up, or is it a pattern I could access? The heel is especially interesting.

Sorry, I know you're very busy, so if you can't get back to me, I completely understand!

IMAGINE. . . my surprise and disappointment when I returned home from 5 1/2 days in NYC, during the time of your visit, to realize I missed it because I was clueless! Did you get to see the MOMA exhibit, Subversive Knitting and Radical Lace?! It was awesome! (You don't know me, by the way--I'm a blog-lurking knitter until I set up my own blog.) Anyway, I was that close. Good luck to you. Dorothy

from one knitting-doula to another loved you at FIT! thanks for a fun time! cori.....

I picked up the new book today and sat down and read it this evening. I love it. You put into words what I wish everyone knew about knitting - that it's not a hobby or even a passion, it's a lifestyle. It's as much a part of who I am as is my red hair, myopic eyes or my tendency toward a messy car. Hiding it would be like trying to deny I'm right handed - and equally pointless. Thanks again for saying what we all know.

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